Tag Archives: The Miami Herald

This 1930s postcard shows residences and a hotel on The Herald property

It’s a nostalgic time on the west end of the Venetian Causeway.

The Miami Herald printed its last newspapers two weeks ago at 1 Herald Plaza, on the mainland between the Venetian and MacArthur causeways.

1939 view of downtown looking west.

Since then, office and news gathering operations have been moving to the news organization’s new home in Doral.

The final newsroom employees — and few from other departments — are scheduled to finish packing this week and all will be working in Doral by Friday afternoon.

Some time after that — it’s not clear when — property owner Genting plans to tear down The Herald building to make way for its planned resort (no, it won’t be a casino — at least not yet).

The Miami Herald in 2006.

The Herald’s been on the property for 50 some years. BelleIsleBlog has been trolling eBay again, finding old postcards that provide a view at the bayside property between the Venetian and MacArthur Causeways before The Herald built its offices and printing plant in the early 1960s. The Herald moved to One Herald Plaza from a location on South Miami Avenue in April 1963.

Another view of the Causeways, circa 1939.

The postcards show another Miami — when the port was off an undeveloped Watson Island, and the shoreline south of the MacArthur Causeway (then the County Causeway) featured huge oil tanks. Biscayne Island, the first on the way east on the Venetian Causeway, was barren, used as a landing strip.

The postcard above shows the Boulevard Shops (originally the Shrine Building when buit in 1930) on Biscayne Boulevard — and the Trinity Cathedral to the west of the Venetian Causeway entrance. Both remain, dwarfed by the city that grew up in the next 80-plus years.

Circus elephants cross the Venetian Causeway drawbridge, in 1960, with Herald building property in background.

Construction on The Herald building began in 1961, and finished with the building opening on April 5, 1963.

On Jan. 9, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus makes its annual trek to Miami. It will play at American Airlines Arena downtown.

Back in the day, the circus played on Miami Beach, and its annual visit began with an elephant walk from the train tracks downtown east across the Venetian Causeway to the Miami Beach Convention Hall.

This 1960 photograph shows the elephant walk on Jan. 23, 1960. The elephants are heading east, past the drawbridge, where cars are backed up. Causeway emblems are advertised for sale at the causeway office on Biscayne Island.

Near the west shore of Biscayne Bay, you can see a radio tower and turned dirt and buildings. What’s missing? The Miami Herald building. Construction officially began on The Herald building in August 1960, and it opened in March 1963.

IN this photo, you can see the Boulevard Shops, which are still on the Herald property at 14th Street and Biscayne Boulevard, and some other structures.